Hmmm, I’m not sure that the conclusions that they have drawn are necessarily complete.

Yes, Apple could be using it as a great leverage tool with Intel. But if that were the case, why wouldn’t they just rely on their own (new) chip manufactoring capacities?

My thoughts turn to the future: AMD have the x86_64 architecture that Intel have no comparison to.There are several draws there for Apple for at least examining the chip.

Apple make their systems perform like no other. Seriously, look at the base specs of the Macbook Pro. Whilst other manufacturers are churning out middle of the road, low-end shite, Apple make their systems powerful by default. Seeing as a lot of video processing and graphics work get done on Macs; and that processing requires large numerical calculations; having 64-bit integers by default makes life easier, and a seriously selling point for their high-end workstations.

Even if the advantages of the 64-bit system are used immediately, it still supports x86_32 (or IA32 or whatever you want to call it!) – something that Intel’s chips don’t do.

They already have the Mach Universal binary format, and there is already compilation for 64-bit systems available in Xcode (although not necessarily x86_64) – adding a new one would be quite simple.

Apple always appear (to me at least) to be a company that are experimenting in the background, even if they don’t go the 64-bit route, at least they can say that they’ve tried!

Having accidentally snapped the USB connector off my first gen Shuffle, I required a new one for the gym.

I ummed and arrred about getting the new style or the previous style as I have a habit of breaking the Apple headphones and there aren’t that many for other manufcturers that support the new style with the controls on the earphone lead.

Still, vanity prevailed and I bought the new style one in order to improve my lagging street cred!